One of the most entertaining fantasy series I ever read began with a book called, “Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold” by Terry Brooks. Ben Holiday was a successful lawyer until the death of his wife turns his world upside down. His law practice — in fact his entire life — seems empty and meaningless. When a specialty catalog arrives for his wife, he finds himself reading through it, wondering what attracted her to it?

He’s intrigued by a section that in newspaper classifieds would be headed Land Investment. Except in this case, the term “land” means much more than just a plot of land for sale and bears little resemblance to a normal investment property purchase overseas like UK Land. For Sale.

The ad that catches his eye says, “Magic Kingdom For Sale.” The price is one million dollars. Ben has 10 days to check it out and see if he wants to be king. If not, he can walk away with a refund. Otherwise, he’s stuck there. When the bumbling wizard he inherits puts him to sleep for several days, Ben doesn’t have time to learn all he needs to know to make a good decision.

With the barons unwilling to pay taxes and the people resigned to another mail order king with no interest in their lives, things look bleak for the realm of Landover. But Ben Holiday has one thing going for him none of his predecessor’s possessed: a “dig your heels in” stubbornness that is just what is needed in this shambles of a kingdom he’s inherited.

I have been a little frustrated lately.  You see, I spent a whole lot of money on a specialized script that I was going to use to create websites.  Now, that really isn’t the problem - you see I forgot to leave money for hosting.

Now, I would hope that I am the only person that has ever done this, but I would guess that I am not.  Not only do I feel dumb, but I just don’t know how I overlooked it.  I mean, you wouldn’t open a shop, buy all the inventory, but forget to lease a storefront, would you?

Well, so I am in a bit of a pickle now.  I have been looking for a company that offers free MYSQL hosting, but I haven’t had a whole lot of luck.  But I know that there must be one out there - I will just have to keep looking.

Man… I should have planned things out better…

Here’s a bit of flash fiction. Enjoy.

The spy, wishing this operation were paying him better, peered through a periscope device disguised as the corner of the van’s luggage rack. He grunted in surprise as he typed codes into his laptop that translated into “black limo new jersey tags,” along with the plate number of the vehicle which had just pulled into an empty office building’s parking lot.

A photo of a prominent senator appeared on his screen. This was the last person he’d expected to be selling secrets to third-rate terrorists. What was the real game here?

He’d just started filming through the periscope when bright lights suddenly shone on the senator as armed men appeared. For a moment he thought the terrorists were fake and had set up the senator, but they were being taken into custody, too. Make that all but one.

This wasn’t an FBI operation. Not CIA, either. Then who? Of course. Naval Intelligence. The office building and parking lot must be Navy property. Clever.

Slowly he lowered the periscope and powered down all electronics, including GPS. He stowed his laptop in a specially-lined compartment, donned a vile-smelling jacket, then gargled with Scotch, spilling some deliberately on himself.

His employer would be very interested in tonight’s drama. So would the competition. This was turning out to be a most surprising and lucrative evening after all. Quietly he exited the back of the van and into the shadows, one with the night.

One of my biggest faults is that I leave everything to the last minute.  In some respects, this is a bad thing, on the other hand, I tend to perform very well under pressure.

A good example of my fault is what happened when my sister was expecting a baby.  You see, she found out that it was going to be a boy, so that we could all buy gender appropriate gifts.  That made a lot of sense to me, and though we found out a month before the baby was born, I didn’t go out shopping at all.

It wasn’t until the day that she went into the hospital that I realized that I hadn’t bought anything.  Honestly, I hadn’t even thought about it.

So, I hopped onto the computer, madly looking for unique baby gifts for my soon to be born nephew.  I found something that was perfect, and I ordered it - thankfully, she didn’t mind that it took a couple of days to get there - she loved it!

I find it interesting that so many people assume we are all alike inside. I’ve read books by authors who claim there is no such thing as writer’s block, for example. They have never experienced it, therefore it must not exist.

And yet tens of thousands of writers have suffered from writer’s block since we began chiseling stories in stone. Those writers who overcame it and have written about their experience also tend to assume that what worked for them will work for everyone.

When did our world view become “one size fits all?”

Because it’s not just writers with this attitude. If you read Internet marketing products you’ll find one marketer using technique “A” with online advertising and it made him millions of dollars, so it’s the best and only way. Another marketer creates a product in which says he struggled for years with technique “A” and it only made him lose his shirt. He discovered technique “B” and that, he says, is the real way to do online advertising.

Advice in marketing forums is no different. One expert rails against using offshore merchant accounts. Another swears by using them.

Who do you believe? I believe the only person who knows what is best for you is you. We all have an inner knowing. It’s when we doubt ourselves that we think we need others to tell us what to do. The truth is, we already know. We just lack the courage. Find a group that will encourage and support you, and you won’t go wrong.

When I go to the horse racing track, sometimes I am there to try and make money.  Alright, when I am there, I am trying to pick the winner.  No one wants to pick the loser, right?

Most people just listen to what other people say, and consider their advice to be the best horse racing tips that they can find.  They put their money down on the racing tips that they hear, hoping to make a quick buck.

As it turns out, most of these people have picked lemons and lose money.  They obviously don’t know that the best way to do it is take the advice of a reputable horse racing tipster, where the words coming out of their mouth are lined with experience, not hearsay.

For me, this has been sound advice, and you can tell that by the end of the day, I am one of the few people that leave the track with money in their pockets.

It really scares me how much pollution that we come into contact with each day. It is all around us and we do not even notice how much harm it is doing to our bodies. I do whatever I can to try and take care of my body, but it scares me when it is something that I can’t do anything about, such as toxic chemicals in the air I breathe.

I decided that I would do a little bit of research into natural cellular defense and see what was suggested by professionals. I talked to my doctor about it and she said that it was something that greatly concerned her as well, as it was something that even she, as a medical professional, could not control.

She did suggest that I try zeolite and see if it was something that made me feel better. I certainly did not think it would hurt to give it a try. I thought it was amazing and I feel a hundred times better than I did before trying this. I guess that I am sold on the product and on the knowledge that there is something I can do about it.

Kids have no idea how revealing their conversations are. One kid who, to put it politely, is a reluctant learner, used a term I’d never heard before. I kept listening, because the group of boys sitting around him in the lunch room seemed to know exactly what he was talking about.

After lunch, I casually asked him what MMA clothing was. He pointed to his shirt, which had words and symbols on it that made no sense to me. So I asked what MMA stood for. This answer, the kid knew: Mixed Martial Arts.

This “new” combat sport combines a mixture of all martial arts. I did some research and learned that MMA is related to the ancient Greek sport pankration. Now there’s a way to reach a reluctant learner when studying ancient Greece and its culture. But first you’ve got to overhear, ask questions and understand as a teacher.

I grew up in the country where we had our own well. The water was sweet-tasting — not to be confused with sugary. It also tasted a tad on the metallic side. Inside the house we had to combat rust stains in our tub and sinks. The only product we ever found to deal with the rust effectively was a cleanser that, when you sprinkled on its powder, immediately bleached out even the most stubborn rust spots. The problem was exacerbated by aging porcelain that was porous and pitted. That’s one of the drawbacks to renting old farm houses. You can’t just ask for an appliance upgrade.

In those days, about the only water recommendation made to well owners was to employ a water softener system. You could have your water quality checked by the local extension office of the USDA, but most of us didn’t unless an entire household got sick and it was traced to the water. In our rural community this never occurred thankfully. Even town water was palatable and chlorine-free for a time.

But times change. Now some days you turn on the faucet and it smells like someone just poured bleach into the pipes. And my thought is, what bacteria are they trying to kill this time?

How much does buying and selling the actual price of a certain commodity in the future affect its price? I have been reading up on futures trading and how the process works. It seems that everyone is doing this from large corporations to the average blue collar worker thanks to the Internet.

But, the question is does buying a future encourage the prices to continue to rise? Does the trading actually affect the demand for the product or is supply and demand completely separate from price?

What led me to think about this is the price of oil and consequently gas prices at the pump. You know that the price of gas has caused an increase in nearly every other type of product that we have to buy. Groceries are outrageous because they have to be trucked in, flown in, or transported in some way by an oil fueled vehicle.

If we quit buying or investing in oil futures, will it bring the cost down for everyone? I wonder.